I build my own bicycle + cart from scratch for a 680km trip.

I feel like this could have been a post on r/badwelding lmao.

Bit of a background: I wanted to make a trip from Emmen (Netherlands) to Alborg (Denmark) so I ordered an actual touring bike from santafixie, which never arived. I didnt want to order another bicycle again so I decided to build my own. I had no welding experience to building this bike.

After watching a tutorial and a friend of my mother allowed me to practice on some steel scraps he had laying around. I felt pretty confident. I tried making a recumbent bike first. After that failed I made 3 bicycle frames after that. It's made with 2mm steel tubing so it is pretty heavy, but that allowed me to be pretty reckles with the welts and still manage to produce something decent.
Because of that the bicycle is pretty strong and I use it as a comuter bicycle aswell. The daily comute and some longer distance trips (100km) I totaled probably more then 1000km on that bicycle.

I do have pretty bad knees so I wanted electrically assist. Which I designed and build a trailer that holds a battery.

The trailer is something of a mad fantasy of mine. It contains a 12v 100a battery. It has a 600w outlet and it is solar powered. I wanted to have a build in fridge but shitcanned that idea. It also provides power for my bicycle. It has storage for a tent, matress , sleeping bag and an elektronic stove with basic cutlery included.

The cart is aslo pretty heavy. And because it has a tendency to bounce on every dent or raise in the infrastructure. It capped my speed at 20km/h.

I do like the idea of disconnecting the cart and just have a normal bicycle for local exploration. So for the future I do want to improve the trailer. By making it way lighter, give it suspension and intregate electronic brakes.